Often eaten for breakfast or as a snack, rusks can be spread with a multitude of accompaniments: butter, spread, jam or even cream cheese. While it is extremely common to hear that rusks are a low-calorie and healthy dietary choice, often recommended in diets to replace bread, a rusk is none other than a slice of bread that has been cooked two times – “rusk” comes from the Italian “biscotto”, literally meaning “baked twice” – to obtain a dry and crispy texture. This manufacturing process involves first baking bread dough to produce regular bread, then cutting it into slices and a second baking to remove moisture and create the famous rusk. The ingredients used to make rusks are similar to bread, usually including flour, yeast, water, salt, and sometimes sugar and added fat.
Rusks, an ultra-processed food
Rusks are essentially slices of sandwich bread that have been dried out in the oven, meaning they contain less water than regular bread. This may give the impression that they are lower in calories, but in reality they provide twice as many calories as bread. This lack of water also makes the rusk less filling, which will have the effect of pushing you to consume more. Furthermore, although they contain nutrients, such as fiber or magnesium, commercial rusks also contain additives, fats and added sugars in their composition, to improve the texture, flavor and shelf life of the product. product, but these reduce their nutritional value and make them less interesting in terms of health.
For rusks to be a real light and healthy alternative to bread, it is therefore important to check their nutritional composition and opt for whole rusks, richer in fiber.
